THE APPROPRIATION OF THE CATEGORY OF TRADITIONAL PEOPLES FOR SELF-APPROVAL OF A COLLECTIVE IDENTITYTRADITIONAL PEOPLES, COLLECTIVE IDENTITYThe dissertation intends to reflect on the change of meaning in the category of traditional peoples and communities. This was a concept created by the public power and the academy to encompass diverse communities that, although they were different from each other, had characteristics considered similar. This category has its meaning changed, becoming an element of collective identity, in which these communities assume this nomenclature, and they begin to call themselves traditional peoples. These communities, which were grouped in the same category by wills external to them, begin to form alliances with each other and begin to unite of their own volition. To analyze this issue, the research will focus on the Forum of Traditional Communities of Paraty, created in 2007, which gathers caiçaras, indigenous Guarany Mbya and quilombolas. The Forum is a form of alliance between these groups, but also a way of understanding themselves as similar, by bringing together three distinct ethnic groups that also recognize themselves as traditional communities.